Strawberry Nut Cake

A couple of weeks before Christmas my extended family all likes to get together for a big lunch to celebrate. One of my favourite things that we do together is instead of all buying each other gifts for Christmas we each put in about $20 or so and then collect all the money up and donate it to a charity. Today was that day and my family was in charge of bringing the desserts (I was so happy with that decision haha). My mum took along some normal christmas cakes but then also bought fruit platters and some healthy bars she makes and I decided to make a raw vegan cheesecake, but it ended up being a nutcake and it was a hit. This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, sugar free and totally vegan (but still tastes so good). There is a tiny bit left in the freezer so guess what I am going to eat while Beau is out at basketball...

Note: this recipe takes a bit of time to make, best to prepare it the day before you need it!

Ingredients

Topping:

3 cups strawberries (I used a frozen packet and thawed them)

1/4 cup water

2 punnets fresh strawberries [for serving]

(optional) blueberries [for serving]

(optional) crushed cashews [for serving]

Filling:

3.5 cups cashews (soaked in water for about half an hour before you decide to make this layer)

3/4 cup coconut nectar

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/3 cup shredded coconut

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Base:

1.5 cups macadamia nuts

1 cup pitted dates

1 cup walnuts

1/2 cup shredded coconut

3 tbsp coconut sugar

1/3 nutmeg

Method

Lightly grease a springform pan with coconut oil

Put all the 'base' ingredients in a food processor and process until they are crumbly

Remove the base ingredients from the processor and press down into the bottom of the pan, it should form a thin base. Place in the freezer for 1 hour.

Good idea to start soaking the cashews now until the base has been in the freezer for an hour and you start making the next section.

Once the cashews have been soaking for half an hour, combine all the 'filling' ingredients in your food processor, but this time, leave the processor running until it is a very smooth consistency.

Pour on top of the 'base' section in the springform pan and then place it back in the freezer overnight.

The next day combine the thawed frozen strawberries and a small amount of water in the food processor until the mixture is runny.

Pour this over the 'filling' layer in the pan and put back in the freezer just for about 15 minutes, until it is very cold but not completely frozen.

Prepare the ingredients you wish to have as the decoration, I used strawberries and crushed almonds, blueberries would work great as well.

Place the decorative fruits on top of the cake before the 'topping' layer has completely set.

Return to the freezer until 15 minutes before it needs to be consumed.

Note: We had to make a 40 minute trip to where our lunch was today and the cake didn't like that one bit, it kept it's form and we had cold things around it to try and keep the temperature down, but the strawberry topping layer begins to melt once it's been out of the fridge for about 20 minutes or so. We popped it into a freezer as soon as we were at our destination and it was fine - but just a word of warning! Keep it frozen until about 10 minutes or so before serving for best results.